Best Refrigerator Features for Entertaining at Home
Large capacities and flexible features make these fridges worth a look
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If you do a lot of entertaining—hosting for the holidays, throwing backyard barbecues—you want a refrigerator with plenty of storage capacity. Thanks to thinner insulation, slimmed-down icemakers, and other space-saving innovations, most refrigerators these days are pretty roomy inside.
Still other refrigerator features can make your gatherings at home run smoothly.
"Today's refrigerators offer many new compelling features," says CR test engineer Joseph Pacella. "From door-in-door compartments to dispensers for sparkling water or coffee, there are plenty of unusual features to please every kind of consumer."
The roundup below, drawn from our comprehensive refrigerator ratings, lists the best refrigerator features for entertaining and some well-performing models that offer them.
How We Test Refrigerators
After a refrigerator gets wired up with temperature sensors, we monitor it for more than a month in a temperature-controlled chamber to evaluate thermostat control and temperature uniformity. CR’s test engineers collect more than 5.4 million temperature readings for each model to detect warm and cold spots and to determine which refrigerators will keep your food fresh longer.
To help you maximize refrigerator storage, we measure usable storage capacity, which doesn’t always match what manufacturers claim. We also measure energy efficiency, noise, and how long food will stay frozen during a power outage.
All of this data appears in our refrigerator ratings charts, which as of early December have more than 400 models from brands including GE, Frigidaire, Kenmore, LG, Samsung, and Whirlpool.
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More new refrigerators let you control the ratio between refrigerator and freezer space. That can be helpful before a party, when you might need extra fresh-food storage for trays of food. This Samsung Chef Collection model is a great example. The true four-door refrigerator features two side-by-side bottom freezer compartments, one of which can convert to an additional refrigerator chamber. Check our guide to "flexi-fridge" models.
Other four-door refrigerators feature an adjustable middle drawer with different temperature settings, although they can't be turned into extra freezer space. For example, the Whirlpool WRX988SIBM, $2,200, has a "FreshStor" drawer whose temperature can be turned down when you're chilling drinks and up when you're temporarily storing party platters.
The latest through-the-door ice and water dispensers make it easier to fill oversized containers, such as water pitchers, to put out with a big holiday meal. This GE Cafe French-door model goes one better by incorporating a built-in single-cup coffee brewer from Keurig. It also delivers superb temperature control throughout its interior. Not to be outdone, the Samsung Chef Collection RF34H9960S4 (listed above) has a dispenser with a built-in sparkling water maker, perfect for wine spritzers or carbonated cocktails.
Split shelves come in handy when you need to store a lot of tall bottles in the refrigerator, perhaps a case of wine or champagne before your big New Year's Eve bash. The shelves might fold under their back half or slide to the side. They're common on French-door models like this LG LFXS30766S.
This feature is cropping up on more French-door bottom-freezers, including this Kenmore Elite and a handful of side-by-sides. It's basically a shallow compartment in the door of the refrigerator that opens with the press of a button. It provides quick access to beverages, condiments, and other frequently used items. During a party, it's a great place to stash beer, soda, and the like so that your guests can grab them without making a mess of the main refrigerator compartment.
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